The Hudson's Bay Route Supported. 503 



and I will conclude these few remarks. The distance between Win- 

 nipeg and Churchill is about 630 miles. By railway ruute it will 

 very likely be some 710 miles. From Churchill to Hudson Straits 

 is 050 miles ; the Straits 450 miles ; and from the Hudson Straits 

 to Liverpool 1,830 miles. The whole distance is then 2,930. From 

 Montreal to Liverpool the distance is 2,765 miles. That is the 

 the shortest summer route ; the old route was 2,990 miles. 



" The exports of grain by Montreal last year were something 

 like 10,498,265 bushels, that is to say, 5,798,496 bushels of wheat, 

 596,104 bushels of corn, a million bushels of peas, and so on. In 

 1881, the exports of grain reached the figure of nearly 15,000,000; 

 in 1880, it was over 23,000,000; in 1879, 19,000,000; in 1878, 

 16,000,000. Now, to show how much, if the possibility of the 

 project is once established, the farmer of the North-West will gain 

 by the saving of such a distance, I will give you the rate of trans- 

 port. A bushel of wheat from Winnipeg to Montreal, according to 

 summer rates, costs 28 cents ; according to winter rates 49 cents ; 

 from Winnipeg to Liverpool via Montreal, a bushel of wheat by the 

 summer rate 38 cents, and by the winter 59 cents. Now, Sir, 

 according to the distances I have given, if the carriage of a bushel of 

 wheat from Churchill to Liverpool will cost, say — from Winnipeg 

 to Churchill, about 15 cents, and from Churchill to Liverpool, 

 10 cents— in all 25 cents — you will see what a saving of money 

 farmers in the North-West will be able to make by having such a 

 route — if, of course, the feasibility of the project turns out to be 

 assured. Now, Sir, the average price of wheat in Montreal, in 1882, 

 was $1.33 per bushel. This price, of course, was governed by the 

 price in Liverpool, and if we can save fifteen or twenty cents 'a 

 bushel in the transportation to Liverpool through Hudson's Bay, 

 the farmer will, of course, obtain just that much more for his wheat. 



" Churchill is about six degrees further south than Archangel on 

 the White Sea, in Europe, and we know that Archangel is a place of 

 large trade and is frequented by a large number of English vessels. 

 You must remember, Mr. Speaker, that Archangel is situated in the 

 64th decree of latitude north; and Churchill would be situated 

 south of Edinburgh, Christiana and Archangel. We all know, of 



